{"id":319,"date":"2009-04-15T10:37:30","date_gmt":"2009-04-15T14:37:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mmolenda.com\/oldblog\/?p=319"},"modified":"2009-04-15T10:40:41","modified_gmt":"2009-04-15T14:40:41","slug":"wussification-of-american-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmolenda.com\/oldblog\/?p=319","title":{"rendered":"Wussification of American Children"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am far from a political activist or even a parent… however, after watching RealSports Episode 144<\/a> last night [with Dana], I am horrified for the future of American kids.\u00a0 It only begins with banning dodgeball (which is the basis of this discussion) but it extends to some “New PE” educators calling for the elimination of musical chairs or anything competetive where there might be a “winner” and a “loser.”<\/p>\n

This is where I am horrified.\u00a0 Why can we not teach our children that there are winners and losers in life.\u00a0 From real competitive sports like football and baseball to getting a job.\u00a0 Not everybody makes it on the varsity football team or gets the job they apply for.<\/p>\n

This goes far beyond a simple game.\u00a0 I found a great blog post<\/a> that makes a lot of great points and it points to an article called “What’s Wrong With Dodgeball.” by Matt Labash (the link on my source site doesn’t work… so it must not be on the web anymore.)\u00a0 In my opinion, “NOTHING.”\u00a0 I played dodgeball as a child and I am a well adjusted adult.\u00a0 I was not horrified or terrorized by the game or being a “loser.”\u00a0 I was not the most athletically gifted and was often a prime target but I never felt like a loser.<\/p>\n

In the RealSports piece, there is a school in Phoenix, AZ where touching is not allowed.\u00a0 TOUCHING?\u00a0 Really?\u00a0 A high-five?\u00a0 A hug?\u00a0 A hand-shake?\u00a0 How does this help kids?\u00a0 Oh, and at the same school, traditional tag is not allowed.\u00a0 They do “shadow tag.”\u00a0 They don’t touch the person to make them “it.”\u00a0 They step on the person’s shadow.\u00a0 I just don’t get it.<\/p>\n

These are things that make me not want to have kids.\u00a0 I really want to be a father, but not if what is taught in schools contradicts what is being taught in the home.\u00a0 Dana and I have very similar views on raising children and disciplining children and what it means to be a “winner” or a “loser.”\u00a0 I want my children to know that they can’t win at everything, but also that winning isn’t everything.\u00a0 It’s how you play the game (learn how to follow the rules) with class and dignity.\u00a0 If they can do that, they are a winner in my eyes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am far from a political activist or even a parent… however, after watching RealSports Episode 144 last night [with Dana], I am horrified for the future of American kids.\u00a0 It only begins with banning dodgeball (which is the basis … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogging","category-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmolenda.com\/oldblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmolenda.com\/oldblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmolenda.com\/oldblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmolenda.com\/oldblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmolenda.com\/oldblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=319"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mmolenda.com\/oldblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":323,"href":"https:\/\/mmolenda.com\/oldblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319\/revisions\/323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmolenda.com\/oldblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmolenda.com\/oldblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmolenda.com\/oldblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}